posted at 6:01 pm on November 9, 2013 by Erika Johnsen

Well. This just gets more and more Orwellian by the day, doesn’t it? Via Reuters:

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordered the military “occupation” of a chain of electronic goods stores in a crackdown on what the socialist government views as price-gouging hobbling the country’s economy.

Various managers of the five-store, 500-employee Daka chain have been arrested, and the company will now be forced to sell products at “fair prices,” Maduro said late on Friday. …

On Saturday morning, hundreds of bargain-hunters flocked to Daka shops to take advantage of the new, cheaper prices.

“We’re doing this for the good of the nation,” said Maduro, who accuses rich businessmen and right-wing political foes backed by Washington of waging an economic “war” against him.

“I’ve ordered the immediate occupation of this chain to offer its products to the people at fair prices, everything. Let nothing remain in stock … We’re going to comb the whole nation in the next few days. This robbery of the people has to stop.”

Ah, yes — because as we all know, the determination of what kinds of prices are “fair” based on the arbitrary standards and political calculations of Venezuela’s venerable and equality-minded overlords is precisely what the country needs to help put it back on the path of economic stability and curb its annual 50+ percent inflation rate. Or, something along those lines, anyway.

Maduro and his government are still blaming the disastrous economic scenario into which they have rapidly been hurtling on the nefarious machinations of private-sector hoarding and speculation, on top of a probable plot cooked up by the United States government and opposition agitators attempting to wage “economic war” against him. Outright military occupations and takeovers are nothing that his predecessor Hugo Chavez hasn’t done before in times of political trouble, but Venezuela has municipal elections next month and Maduro really needs to do something to bolster his credibility/popularity before then. Scrapping the price controls and government interventions actually crippling the Venezuelan economy are evidently out of the question, but super-awesome ideas like deciding Venezuelans are in for an early Christmas? Totally legit. Via Mac Margolis at the Daily Beast:

Last week he created a Ministry of Supreme Social Happiness, perhaps hoping that true contentment in the crumbling Bolivarian republic could be conjured with a pen stroke. And now Maduro’s latest move has been to declare an early Christmas.

As exotic as it sounds, getting the jump on Father Christmas has its logic. In a land where prices are rising at a blistering 50 percent per year, street crime is raging, and blackouts are commonplace, Venezuelans could use some holiday cheer. The fact that the season’s greetings come with an advance bonus on government paychecks only sweetens the pot.

And Maduro’s hoping it will help the government, as well. On December 8, Venezuelans will go to the polls yet again to vote in municipal elections. With the gathering economic mess, which has depleted supermarkets of household goods and sent the price of the dollar skyrocketing to six times the official rate, government approval ratings have sagged. By fattening paychecks before the polls, Maduro clearly is hoping to heal the country’s wounds and buoy the fortunes of Chavista candidates, many of whom are trailing rising challengers.

Does anyone seriously believe that President Obama and the rest of the left would not think this a good idea? Perhaps they’ve like to accomplish it by passing laws and issuing executive orders rather than using the military, but I guarantee you that they think having the national government set prices would be good for the nation.

I’m sure the owners of Daka will be placing a large order with their suppliers to restock their inventory after the fire sale this week gets all of their current stock sold. Watch out Apple, Samsung, LG, and all you other evil manufacturers.

Venezuela is not a FREE country, but America is SUPPOSED to be, and yet, obama has ordered his personal military, the IRS and HHS, to occupy every doctor’s office and medical facility, across America, and we are told that it’s for our own good.

“I’ve ordered the immediate occupation of this chain to offer its products to the people at fair prices, everything. Let nothing remain in stock … We’re going to comb the whole nation in the next few days. This robbery of the people has to stop.”

I wish our President had the balls to do this (instead of what he’s doing now). Maduro clearly shows here that he knows the basic principles of price, supply, and demand. Price fixing and unchanged supply will inevitably lead to empty shelves, and Maduro knows it.

It’s sort of refreshing to see a dictator demagoguing out of pure self interest, rather than alleging that he’s acting out of some sound economic principle, like Obama tries to do. (“Healthcare is an exception to market rules”; “costs will go down by $2500 on average”; “if you like your plan, you can keep your plan”)

Maduro and his government are still blaming the disastrous economic scenario into which they have rapidly been hurtling on the nefarious machinations of private-sector hoarding and speculation, on top of a probable plot cooked up by the United States government and opposition agitators attempting to wage “economic war” against him.

Probably has nothing to do with investments not being safe in Venezuela, right? lol
Socialists aren’t too bright.

Hey, in Argentina the government mandates the price of the Big Mac (yes, the actual Big Mac) so people don’t realize the skyrocketing rate of inflation.

In short, economically many governments and economists use the price of a Big Mac to determine a country’s rate of inflation due to the detailed -and very accurate- analysis Mc Donald’s does to set its prices in each region, and it is the one product that is universal around the world.